Panasonic New York City Triathlon 2016

My favorite triathlon is still the New York City Triathlon. This year was my sixth time racing in the Big Apple and the experience of racing entirely in the river, highway and streets of Manhattan still thrills me. It’s thrilling to have the city shut down so that we can use the streets as our playground.

I came in second this year, which is a great result,Â yet after winning the previous two years it feels like a loss – I failed to “defend myÂ title”. Â Yet with so many past performances on the same course, I have objective data to show that my performance was not worth a victory at this race. I was off my game. It takes a special day to win in New York, and thatâ€™s exactly what Cameron Dye and Sarah Haskins had this year.

From the beginning of the race I was feeling off. I started falling behind in the swim down the Hudson, and used what may have been my only match of the day to run my way back up to Cameron through the long transition. I entered the West Side Highway with Cameron, but quickly found my legs werenâ€™t giving me what I was asking of them. I lost three minutes to Cam on the bike, averaging about 15% lower power than last year, and almost three minutes slower split than my previous worst. The run went more smoothly, and while my run time was one of the best of the day, it was three minutes slower than my PR on the
course of 31:40, that I ranÂ in 2014 on my way to set theÂ course record.

It sounds like Iâ€™m in bad condition, but I think thatâ€™s false. I had the flu a couple
weeks ago, which took me out of Racine 70.3 and had me on bed rest for a week. Normally I would call that a great taper, but with my history of heat stress, and coming off a fever, my body was more sensitive to the humid conditions than normal. Iâ€™m disappointed by my times, but I think my training is right and my body will come around.

Iâ€™ll take this result as a positive sign that coming off illness I can still post a second place finish at a big race. Next month Iâ€™ll be racing Dublin 70.3 and hopefully there I can show that my season is only just beginning.

I’ve included pictures that were provided by ProAir RespiClick. They sponsored the race photography so all of this year’s participants get free downloads of all their pictures. This is the first time I’ve seen this, but I think it’s a really cool benefit to participants. I use their inhalers on race day to treat exercise induced asthma, but had no idea they were helping support our sport. Thanks!